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2021-04-04 Home Front: Politix

America Has Long Favored Cars Over Trains and Buses. Can Biden Change That?

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Posted by Fred 2021-04-04 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 The TL;DR? STOP TRYING TO MAKE THE US INTO EUROPE. The continental US (excepting perhaps the NE coastal area from DC to Boston), is simply too dispersed in terms of density, and too far apart between cities in terms of scale of distance needed to make passenger trains practical. So stop it. Passenger trains are a boondoggle

The answer is NO. Damned east coast and urban simpletons simply do not get it. Travel outside your urban squalor where you live on top of each other like rodents.

The US is not just the East Coast from DC to Boston. The US is NOT Europe.

Outside of the ghetto-ridden vertical cities in the NE plus Chicago, the cities are spread out in terms of density, they are farther apart, and the US is far larger, enough to make train travel time consuming, slow and impractical compared to automotive (for short to intermediate trips) or air travel (for intermediate or long trips). Here are some comparisons.

Getting from Barcelona Spain to Geneva sounds like a long trip in Europe. A straight line 387 miles (flying) and driving the distance is 480 miles.

But that will not even get you from Nashville to Chicago. Nashville to Chicago is 395 flying/480 driving.

The distance from Paris to Berlin seems to be pretty big - whole wars have been fuagh between those 2 cities. And it is roughly 545 miles straight line (about 625mi driving).

But that will not even get you out of the State of Texas. The distance in just a single state, El Paso Texas to Houston TX is roughly 675 miles (driving distance is about 725). Yep houston and El Paso are farther apart than Paris and Berlin.

But what about Belin to Moscow? Yhat train might make sense, right? That distance is 1000mi flying, 1200 miles driving.

Yet you would fall 200 miles short if you compare it to the distance from DC to Dallas.
That's right, Washington DC to Dallas, TX far exceeds that, 1200 miles flying and 1300 driving.

Trains DO NOT WORK for long-distance nor intermediate travel in the US due to the scale of the distances involved.

Then there is the other problem: US cities are geographically spread out. In the US we have AIRPORTS that are larger in land area than some cities. Per Wikipedia, Paris France is 41 square miles, which would fit nicely inside of Denver International Airport's 52 square miles with room left over for venice Italy.

By comparison the city of Denver 154 square miles (not including its extended suburbs which quadruple the land area).

And to look at metropolitan areas, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is cited (US Dept of Interior) as being 9,286 square miles in size (295 of which are rivers, and lakes, 27 sq miles for DFW airport).

I am so sick and tired of the same pointy-headed coastal liberals making this same stupid argument every decade or so.

Rant O'The Day

Posted by These Forkbeard7574 2021-04-04 01:12|| 2021-04-04 01:12|| Front Page Top

#2 Proof that Washingtonians live in an alternate universe Others live among us.

Let's make all media people ride the rail to cover stories, more then 50 miles from their offices, see how they like it. Soon the rest of America will disappear from their attention.

Posted by Procopius2k 2021-04-04 07:54|| 2021-04-04 07:54|| Front Page Top

#3 Had this argument many years ago with an 'enlightened' soul.

Train routes in Europe were built around passenger transport (with very little freight) and the hubs were located in city centers.

Train routes for almost all of the US and Canada were built to haul mostly freight and a few passengers (I know, there are some dedicated passenger lines, but the vast majority of carriers were and are freight haulers) and the hubs were located for wide-spread distribution from resources collection and delivery to industry and commerce (which typically are NOT located in city centers).

Posted by Mullah Richard 2021-04-04 11:13|| 2021-04-04 11:13|| Front Page Top

#4 Nonsense. Democrats know how to do bullet trains.

Look at California, America's shining success story of Democrat one-party rule. What's $800 billion in cost overruns between friends (and Big Guy's)?

Posted by Sonny Tojo3052 2021-04-04 11:19|| 2021-04-04 11:19|| Front Page Top

#5 Amtrak is being offered $80 billion for upgrades, as part of Biden's infrastructure plan, but experts say modernizing America's railways may cost far more

Amtrak plans to add new and enhanced services all over the Northeast, including Pa.

Posted by Skidmark 2021-04-04 11:40|| 2021-04-04 11:40|| Front Page Top

#6 Now, how 'bout a train ride from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok?

Posted by Clem 2021-04-04 11:44|| 2021-04-04 11:44|| Front Page Top

#7 Biden's future will be horse and buggy days again. Garbage trucks like gas or diesel no longer available. Currently only electric can be ordered but none are available.

Posted by Dale 2021-04-04 12:38|| 2021-04-04 12:38|| Front Page Top

#8 In 1945, Europe didn't have any transportation left, so rail was the smart, economical way to get people and goods moving again.

In 1945, Americans were tired of riding worn out trains and there was huge pent-up demand for new cars and roads. It was the new cars and new roads that got Americans outside a 25-mile radius, followed by the leftover aviation industry and facilities. The Orlando airport has (former) B-52 runways.

Posted by Bobby 2021-04-04 13:15|| 2021-04-04 13:15|| Front Page Top

#9 Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways

Posted by Clem 2021-04-04 13:36|| 2021-04-04 13:36|| Front Page Top

#10 Driving the populace into the hive cities makes control and management of the serfs easier. Once the 2A is gone in the city, people are totally dependent on government for safety and public services. The Climate strategy, like the institutional racism strategy, is about propaganda tools to move the generations, disconnected from the history of what gave them their current prosperity, towards the collective hive. Marxism is behind all this, and its source domestically is centered at the Kalorama Kompound...

Posted by NoMoreBS 2021-04-04 14:00|| 2021-04-04 14:00|| Front Page Top

#11 Bus stops and buses in general are dangerous places.

Posted by Airandee 2021-04-04 14:45|| 2021-04-04 14:45|| Front Page Top

#12 The United States used to export oil and petroleum products so cars (which can go anywhere there is a road) was a no-brainer. All of those railroad spurs going to small "whistle stop towns" just could not compete economically Then and Now.

Posted by magpie 2021-04-04 15:53|| 2021-04-04 15:53|| Front Page Top

#13 The TL;DR? STOP TRYING TO MAKE THE US INTO EUROPE.

I vote this Rant o’the Day — that was exhilarating, These Forkbeard7574.

Posted by trailing wife 2021-04-04 18:58|| 2021-04-04 18:58|| Front Page Top

#14 Friend from Germany talked about how US needed more trains until I drove him around the the Southwest through deserts larger than Germany. He didn't bring it up again after that trip.

Posted by ruprecht 2021-04-04 22:48|| 2021-04-04 22:48|| Front Page Top

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